E-COMMERCE

Jumia’s results show Africa’s online shopping boom is continuing

By our News Team | 2022

Nigerian-based company says consumer demand saw its orders increase by 40 percent year-on-year and revenue rise by 44 percent.

African consumers’ uptake of e-commerce clearly shows no sign of abating, with the release this week of Jumia’s first quarter 2022 financial results. The Africa-focused e-commerce giant was founded in Nigeria in 2012 and now operates across the continent.

The company, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, reported that its orders grew by 40% year-over-year – from 6.6-million to 9.3-million. Gross merchandise value or GMV (the total value of merchandise sold over the period) rose by 27% year-over-year – from US$198.9-million to $252.7-million. Revenue reached $47.6-million, a 44% rise over the same period in 2021.

“We kicked off 2022 with very strong growth momentum, closing the first quarter with the highest GMV and Order growth rates of the past nine quarters,” commented Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec, Co-Chief Executive Officers of Jumia, in a media statement.

“We remain focused on taking the business forward on our path to profitability, driving faster usage growth with improved levels of marketing efficiency. Sales and Advertising expense per Order and as [a] percentage of GMV decreased sequentially, both reaching their lowest levels in the past four quarters.”

E commerce

Photo by Kindel Media on Pexels

A growth engine for sellers and businesses

The pair added: “Our focus continues to be on making Jumia a compelling destination for the everyday needs of African consumers and a growth engine for sellers and businesses in Africa and beyond.”

According to information released by the company, in the first quarter of 2022 it continued executing its growth acceleration strategy, the key levers of which are:

  • Sustained marketing investments on a multi-channel basis to drive consumer awareness, adoption and retention.
  • Enhanced assortment relevance with a focus on everyday product categories.
  • Improved pricing and shipping policy.
  • Improved customer experience and convenience through platform enhancements.

Commenting on its marketing efforts, the company noted: “Brand awareness and consideration are core pillars of our marketing strategy and key to foster customer trust. We were pleased to see Jumia ranked #6 in the 2021 Most Influential Brands survey in Egypt released by Ipsos in March 2022.”

Discussing its pricing strategy, Jumia said that price competitiveness is a key component of its value proposition for consumers, particularly in a more challenging macro environment that drives increased consumer price sensitivity. 

“We are upgrading our price benchmarking tool into an automated system covering the full product assortment of Jumia, incorporating data from both online and offline channel checks. The new system leverages machine-learning algorithms to match images and product features, enhancing the speed and accuracy of screening and matching. It also allows for real-time price adjustment with dedicated modules for margin optimisation.”

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